This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations by people like you. Here's an alternative to our opening chant. As I went down in the river to pray Studying about that good old way And who shall wear the starry crown? Good Lord, show me the way Oh, brothers, let's go down, down in the river to pray Oh, sisters, let's go down, down in the river to pray Oh brother, where are they? Well, I've been spending a little time with the ancestors recently, and I have a favorite, which I hear is also Lou's favorite, and it's the rice pounder.

[01:16]

Weeneng. And Huyneng was the sixth ancestor. Of course, the ancestors are a wide, wide variety of people of all different kinds. But Huyneng was a poor man who came to the temple and actually worked pounding the rice out in the rice-pounding hut. And he heard a sutra. That's what got him started. Let's see. One day when Huinen went to market with a bundle of wood, he heard a traveler reciting the diamond cutter scripture. When the traveler reached the part where it says he should activate the mind without dwelling on anything, Huinen experienced enlightenment.

[02:23]

He said to the traveler, what scripture is this, and who did you learn it from? The traveler said, it's called the diamond cut of scripture, and I learned it from the great teacher Hongren in Huangmei. Forgive my pronunciation of these words. Well, with a Scottish accent, you have to forgive my pronunciation of a lot of words, but anyway. Now, the first part in this that really struck me was... He was talking to a nun about the meaning of the Scripture. And the nun picked up a volume of the Scripture and started to talk to him about certain words that were in the Scripture, asking him of his understanding. And he said, I can't read. So he was illiterate. And he said, ask me about the meaning, not the understanding. The nun said, if you can't read, how can you understand the meaning?

[03:27]

Wineng said, the subtle principles of Buddha are not bound up in written words. So when I read that the other day, it really, really struck me how important it is that we not get caught up in the words. As the sutra says, the meaning is not in the words, yet it responds to the inquiring impulse. So, that's a rather fascinating idea. The meaning is not in the words. The meaning is not in the forms. And we often talk about the emptiness of the words or the emptiness of the forms. The intrinsic emptiness of everything is one of our supposed core beliefs.

[04:29]

Nothing exists all by itself. But somehow when it comes to the words, we're so used to the words, the meaning of the words, trying to communicate, especially those of us who've You know, we've been to school, we've had an education that taught us how important it was, the meaning that's in the words. And yet, here we are confronted with the six ancestors saying, well, actually, the meaning's not in the words. I can't read, but I can understand the meaning. I find that very liberating. Flowers are silent. Silence is silent. The mind is a silent flower. The silent flower of the world opens. That's another one of my favorite people, Ikkyu. Or we can look at the Lankavatara Sutra.

[05:33]

Things are not as they seem, nor are they otherwise. I see a couple of my friends here from the Gay Men's Buddhist Sangha, so forgive me if... It's not the same one, but here's a little bit from the Avatamsaka Sutra, which I know you enjoy. Let's see what you think of this for the meaning. What's the meaning of this? It's a story about Sudhana who's on his journey towards enlightenment. and he meets the goddess of the night. And he says to her, he saw her, he met her, and he saw her confronting the purification of all lands by undertaking the vow to save all beings, whether corporal or incorporeal,

[06:35]

thinking, non-thinking, and neither thinking nor non-thinking, by the immense power of the vigorous exercise of the energy of concentration of enlightening beings, by exertion of the power of the greatness technologies of enlightening beings, by the power of execution of the vow to practice the conduct of universally good, enlightening beings, by having generated the energy of the ocean of means of great compassion, to suffuse all beings with desireless universal love, to increase the energy of joy, which is the origin of happiness for all beings, to apply the knowledge of how to take care of all beings by embodiment of the vast spiritual power of enlightening liberation. He saw her confronting realization of knowledge of all things, attendance of all Buddhas, preservation of the teaching of all Buddhas, accumulation of all roots of goodness, development of all enlightening practices, unhindered penetration of the minds of all beings, maturation of the faculties of all beings, purification of the ocean of interests of all beings,

[07:48]

removal of obstructing elements for all beings, dispersal of the darkness of nascent of all beings, and the implementation of all good to generate the light of omniscience. I can't resist, I'm just going to my favorite for a moment. And this is the boy counting the grains of sand on the beach. I met a boy who had learned how to count the grains of sand on the beach. The boy said, I've been taught writing and mathematics by Manju Sri. I know enlightening beings method of reckoning, which goes like this. A hundred hundred thousand is a koti, a koti squared is an ayuta. Anayuta squared is a Nayuta. Anayuta squared is a Bimbara. A Bimbara squared is a Kinkara.

[08:48]

A Kinkara squared is an Agara. An Agara squared is a Pravara. A Pravara squared is a Mapara. A Mapara squared is a Tapara. A Tapara squared is a Sima. A Sima squared is a Yama. A Yama squared is a Nema. A Nema squared is a Navaga. An avarga squared is a mergava. A mergava squared is a varaga. A varaga squared is an avarga. And this goes on for another page and a half. And then, switches into talking about you, everyone here. I have seen your immense body of excellent appearance adorned with jewels. Now this part, try to see yourself this way. We don't usually do a lot of visualization in our practice, but play with this one.

[09:54]

See if you can see yourself this way. Variously beautified by embellishments as the sky is by the stars. Your aura of light. The sublime radiance of your body is equal to the atoms in endless lands. Like various kinds of matchless colors, it purveys everywhere endlessly. From every pore, you radiate nets of light. As many as minds of beings, on a beautiful lotus, in each ray of light stands an emanation of you, extinguishing all pain in the world. You emit fragrant clouds of light in the forms of all being, all pure, showering flowers everywhere on all the Buddhas in the cosmos. Your multitude of lights, vast and pure, is like a mountain radiant with jewels. With it you illumine all worlds and remove the darkness of delusion.

[11:00]

Myriad pure suns emerge from your mouth. Your sunlight shines throughout the vast realm of Vyrochana. Pure moon and star lights radiate from your eyes in great numbers and pervade the ten directions, illumining the world and destroying darkness. From your features come myriad emanations in the forms of all beings. They go throughout the cosmos, developing the countless masses. Your body appears before all beings, everywhere creating joy. You put an end to unmeasureless dangers from kings, brigands, fire and floods. You guide beings. As directed, I have come to you, observing your qualities. A pure aura of light beams emanate from between your brows, illuminating all places,

[12:04]

producing great light in the world. The Avatamsaka Sutra, or Flower Ornament Sutra as it's known, is a wonderful illustration of a different way of working with words, a different way of understanding, a different way of holding the meaning lightly. Thomas Cleary in the introduction kind of explains how this works. Basically, as you notice, particularly with the boy counting the grains of sand, when you listen and listen and listen and something doesn't really make a lot of sense, what I've found is that Personally, when I'm reading that out loud, I stop trying to understand it.

[13:07]

And this is what Cleary says is one way of working to move away from finding the meanings in the words. It's a different way of learning. There are so many possibilities. The beliefs that we hold, the knowledge that we hold so dear is often the barrier. It's the walls that we live behind. To believe that we know something, to believe that we understand completely can be a barrier. There is so much else there beyond our poor wee perceptions of the world. So if we can just lighten up on our attachment to the words and the meanings and the fact that we think we understand. If we can lighten up on that, then the doors of perception open more widely. This method, I think, does Jerome still do it on a Tuesday?

[14:16]

We read this every summer at Tassajara for three years. This is only the last book, there's 39 books. But we read this one every summer. And actually, Cleary warns in the introduction, don't get caught up in the ecstasy. Because it's a very interesting thing. Perhaps I'll read a wee bit more at the end. It's a very interesting experience. The mind grasps and grasps and grasps, as it usually does. But there's nothing really for it to grasp on to. And so the first part of the teaching of this kind of work is to help loosen that grip on the words. And the second part is actually to expand your consciousness, to expand your areas of perception, to completely and radically change the way you see the world, to completely and radically change the way you see yourself.

[15:19]

Blanche always says don't believe, everything you think. And I always say, don't believe anything you think. Concepts and beliefs are often what keep us very separate. I know that in the work I do, many people say to me, how can you work with homeless people? You know, it's very, they're frightening and they're They smell bad and all the rest of it. And I actually was in a discussion with someone in a group one day that I was teaching, and they said, oh, you know, you can't teach homeless people to meditate. They just can't do it. They're just not up for it. They're not mentally capable of learning how to meditate. I said, so you're telling me that I'm not capable of learning how to meditate.

[16:27]

I'm not up for it. I was homeless myself. And as a monk, we take vows of homelessness. So I know a lot of people feel very apprehensive of working with the particular population that I work with. But those are just thoughts. Those are just ideas. Tomorrow is the annual memorial for all the people who died on the streets. I'd like to invite everybody to come. And I don't often, you know, as you can see, I don't write talks down very often. I have ideas that come and things that come to me. But I have a very, very strong idea already about tomorrow night because our belief in what we think, our belief in the words that we have going through our head is such a separation.

[17:35]

It's just a way to separate off from others. And Richard Baker has a wonderful phrase which is already met. To practice walking along the street and everybody that passes you say, already met. already met. The separation is a dreadful, dreadful cause of loneliness and unhappiness in this world. And the ability to just connect and be with is absolutely invaluable. I feel that that's one of the one of the side effects I've noticed most in my own practice is to connect up with people. So tomorrow night, I want to simply, I have to talk, say a few words, and then we'll do the metta sutta.

[18:43]

But I simply want to talk about, you know, Last week my brother died on the street. He OD'd and couldn't get to the hospital in time and then the week before that my sister died on the street. She was doing fine until she lost her house and didn't have anything to eat and her health went downhill. At the beginning of the year my mother died on the street. She was stabbed. in a fight. I have a picture above my computer in my office, which is an elderly lady sitting on the street, and she looks just like my mother, and she's holding a card up that says, I'm sick and old, please help me, I pray for you. So, it's our

[19:45]

Our conviction of understanding, our mistaken idea that we understand, that we know, that we know what people are like, that we can prejudge people, that keeps us separate. It's strange, really, that we're all so similar. That everybody wants to be loved, and everybody fears they're not.

[20:51]

Everybody wants to be cared about, and everybody fears they're not cared about. If I could do one thing, if I could just do one thing, my wish would be that I could help everybody to see how to break down those barriers. And, of course, we all can work at breaking down those barriers and those belief systems because that's what we're doing with our Zaza, of course. The most essential way of liberation I've found so far is in Zaza. to be able to watch those thoughts coming up and try and catch them as soon as they come up. It's the greatest of liberations. Of course, the mind produces thoughts like the body produces sweat.

[22:03]

I think that was Ritchie Amaroji who said that one. We're not trying to stop the production of our thoughts. They may be mistaken, they may be perfectly correct. There's no way of knowing. But they will for sure arise. And it's more about the ability to be with whatever arises. than try to change anything or drop anything. I know you've heard me say this before, the idea of dropping your mind or dropping the body mind is like saying drop this hand off the end of your arm. It's not a possibility. The only way to drop the body mind is to be it completely and utterly, to live it right out to your fingertips. That way there's nothing extra, nothing held back.

[23:08]

So, you know, the other string on my bow is always talking about how everyone is perfect as they are. And that's simply acceptance. Simply acceptance of how we are. And again, I bet as soon as someone says, you're perfect, what happens is, no, no, no, there's this, there's that. If only they knew me, if only they really knew me, they wouldn't think that at all. But those, again, are just ideas. They're formations, they're words we've come up with, they're old habits of thought. And working with something, I mean, I'd just like to recommend working with something like the Avatama Saka Sutra. It's Manjushri's sword, cutting through, those illusions, cutting through those ideas. It's a terrible thing to hold thoughts about yourself that are so completely negative.

[24:23]

Which brings me to Nelson Mandela. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It's our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You're a child of the universe, your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of the world that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.

[25:33]

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. That's Nelson Mandela's inaugural speech in 1994. If you understand things are such as they are. If you don't understand things are such as they are.

[26:35]

I'd like to recommend the Lankavatara Sutra also. Things are not as they seem, nor are they otherwise. forgot my clock. Does anyone know what time it is? So let's visit Hui Nang again. So as you know, Renang was out in the hut pounding the rice. And the fifth ancestor was looking for his next, the next ancestor, the sixth ancestor.

[27:45]

So he had to find a successor. And that was Hongren. So eventually, realizing the time for transmission had come, Zen Master Hongren said to the assembly, the truth is hard to understand. Don't uselessly memorize my words and take that as your own responsibility. Each of you should freely compose a verse. If the meaning of the words is in accord with the truth, I'll give you the robe and the teaching. So this is the competition for the sixth ancestor. I'm trying to be serious tonight. I hope you've noticed. Well, I did. I mean, I said, you know, I've got my good jokes ready, and then someone said, if I wanted jokes, I'd go on YouTube, so...

[28:49]

I'm being very serious. That night at midnight, when no one would know, Xin Xiao, that's the eldest and most mature of the 700 monks that lived there, took a lamp and went into the south hall where he wrote his verse on a wall expressing his insight. Excuse me. The body is the tree of enlightenment, the mind like a clear mirror stand. Time and again, wipe it diligently. Don't let it gather dust. The next day as the Zen master was walking around, he saw the verse. Knowing it had been composed by Xin Zhao, he praised it, saying, if later generations practice in accord with this,

[29:53]

they too will really realize an excellent result. And they then had everybody memorize it. Hearing this verse recited in the mill, where he was pounding the rice, Huynang asked the student, what writing is this? The student told Huynang what had transpired, and Huynang asked him to recite the verse again. Huynang then said, It's very nice, all right, but it's not perfect. Now you have to imagine this in the context of, you know, someone coming and working in the kitchen, you know, and say, you know, Blanche wrote a verse up, and we all had to study it. And then that person working in the kitchen looked at it and said, very nice, it's not perfect. The student scolded him, what does a common sort like you know? Don't talk like a madman. Wienang said, you don't believe me?

[30:54]

I'd like to add a verse to this. That night, Wienang took a servant with him to the hall. And he held up a lamp while he had the boy write another verse next to that of Xunchao. And he had written, enlightenment is basically not a tree, and the clear mirror not a stand. Fundamentally, there is not a single thing. Where can dust collect? So I don't know how many people know the rest of the story, that he was given the robe and the bowl and had to rush off in the middle of the night because the monks were all rather jealous. of the rice pounder having been declared the sixth ancestor, and so forth.

[31:59]

So I would recommend actually that everyone might enjoy the story in the transmission of the light. Fundamentally, There is not a single thing. Where can dust collect? So why is this of any importance to talk about? It seems like a wee bit of a contradiction in terms to sit and use words to talk about the words not having any meaning. But then we have to say something, of course. This is how we exist and how we communicate. So again, I would encourage holding lightly. Holding lightly onto the words.

[33:01]

Holding lightly onto the beliefs that we build with these words. Because the beliefs can become the walls. The beliefs can become the things that separate us. If I believe something about you, then... I might never get to know you because I think I already do. So being able to hold lightly leaves the door open. Being able to hold lightly to the words. Actually, I'd like to finish with a little bit again of the Avatamsaka Sutra. So let me reverse the order of things and say, is there anything anyone would like to say? before we finish up that way. Any questions, remarks? Do you have a ring tomorrow? Excuse me, thank you. Yes, it's at 5.30 City Hall, the part with the grass.

[34:07]

It's either the front or the back, depending on your point of view. So it's the park with the grass and the trees, and it's at 5.30 tomorrow night, p.m., yes. And it's an interfaith gathering. It's actually kind of hosted by Reverend Glenda Hope. And so there'll be people from different traditions there. And I think it was the first... thing I ever went to do with homeless people, and that was with Paul. I think that was the first thing I ever did about 14 or 15 years ago. Anyway, it's a wonderful occasion, and it's very moving. And I must say, you know, there's the one thing when you think about death and, you know, Greg said to me he was going to do a wedding. And I said, well, I've been doing lots of memorials, but they're usually very happy occasions.

[35:14]

So one interesting thing about doing memorials with homeless people is that they are happy, because everybody always knows they've gone on to a better place. They're quite cheerful. And I find this one very, very, very moving. It usually rains, so... come dressed warmly and with an umbrella and everybody should bring a candle because we hold candles and chant. Where do you think it goes? The people that die? Well, I've just actually been looking into that. Something that interests me and Blanche forwarded me some interesting stuff. And It's kind of fascinating, you know, Buddhism in the West and the way that we regard death.

[36:23]

I just read this whole stream of things that Blanche sent, different beliefs, even within our own Soto Zen sect, we don't totally concur. I'm completely open-minded about it. The first spiritual training I had was as a spiritualist medium in a spiritualist church. So that was when I was 13 or so. We talked to dead people all the time. And it was very, very down to earth. It didn't strike me as anything strange or woo-woo. It was very ordinary. You know, it'd be things like, you know, it'd be a little old lady in her best Sunday coat and hat standing up in front of people. And it was in a concert hut that was left over from the Second World War. And she'd stand up and say things like, there's someone standing here holding out a meat pie, you know.

[37:33]

And then someone in the audience would go, it's Jimmy. It's Jimmy, he always loved those meat pies. So we were directly communicating with people and I didn't question it, it was just how it was. And then I started to encounter many different belief systems. In traditional Buddhism, the 49 days before, you know. My question has always been... If in fact rebirth or reincarnation could be real, what is it that carries on? That's my question. So I loved actually Blanche's, I loved your answer. I don't know if you recall in the email stream about reincarnation and someone said, what is it that carries on from lifetime to lifetime? Then you said, well, I don't even know what it is, carries on from moment to moment.

[38:35]

What do you think? What do you think? I think I'll just see when I get there, if there is anywhere to get. You know, there is the scientific understanding that there's only a certain amount of energy, matter in the universe and then nothing ever goes. It doesn't go, it doesn't get less. So how could anything? There's no possibility that anything could disappear. This would be a whole other talk. Actually, morphic resonance is what comes to my mind as a scientific explanation for the idea of reincarnation. But anyway, I'm open-minded. I don't know what we don't know. Shall we finish up with a wee bit of the... Did you have a question, Papa?

[39:52]

A wee bit more of the Evertime Saka Sutra experience here. So I just want you to kind of observe in yourself what happens when there's something going on. And I'll go straight to the boy counting the grains of sand because I don't know about you, but my mind gives up very quickly on that one. So just have a look at what happens with your mind and what the experience feels like. He counted out the grains of sand in the miles-wide mass of sand before him, telling how many grains of sand there were and how many unspeakable numbers of grains of sand there were.

[41:04]

Then, having indicated this by these conventions of enumeration, he said, this counting device serves enlightening beings for the succession of worlds. By this method of counting, they count the multitudes of worlds in the ten directions. This method of counting serves enlightening beings in indicating the worlds in the ten directions in an orderly continuum. By this method of counting, enlightening beings count the string of names of the worlds in the ten directions. As in the case of indications of the string of names of worlds in the same way, This method of counting serves enlightening beings in indicating the succession of names of eons, Buddhas, doctrines, sentient beings, actions, and indeed everything in the ten directions. I know this light of knowledge of enlightening beings, which is characterized by higher knowledge of all arts and sciences. How can I know the practice, tell of the virtues, indicate the range, show the sphere, describe the power, show the will,

[42:12]

elucidate the preparation, explain the commitment, show the conduct, illumine the purity of transcendent ways, expound the purity of accomplishment, tell of the sphere of concentration, or approach the light of knowledge of the enlightening beings who know the number of all worlds, who know the number of all modes of spiritual practice, who know the number of past, present and futures, who know the number of all sentient beings beings, who know the number of all bodies of doctrine, who know the number of enlightenments of all Buddhas, and who command the wheel of names of all the teachings. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It's our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

[43:17]

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You're a child of the universe, you're playing small, does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of the world that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, Our presence automatically liberates others. And you are perfect just the way you are.

[44:25]

Thank you very much. For more information, visit sfzc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[44:55]

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